Gary Stead: Black Caps coach on the side's historic first-ever series win over India

It was hardly surprising Mitchell Santner woke up sore the morning after his match-winning heroics. Twenty-nine straight overs while bowling the Black Capsto a famous victory would have that effect.

Santner’s 13-wicket haul inspired a 113-run win in Pune on Saturday, recording the third-best figures by a New Zealander and the third-best for any bowler against India.

The spinner held up an end while shutting down the hosts’ chase, battling a side strain that required stretching between overs. A maiden series triumph within reach, Santner was the constant and content to later pay a physical price.

“The side was all right last night – I was numbing it with a few beers,” he said. “But this morning it’s a little bit sore.”

The good news for Santner is the Black Caps can now enjoy their historic success and rest weary bodies before gunning for a series sweep.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
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Speaker 2 (00:16):
Against all odds, the black Caps have created history their
first ever Test series win in India, handing the hosts
their first defeat at home in twelve long years. Mitchell
Santana stole the show, taking six for one hundred and four,
bagging thirteen wickets in total for the match and joining
me now as black Caps coach Gary Stead Gary gooday.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
Yeah, good morning tom So in your time.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
As black Caps coach, where does this series win sit?

Speaker 3 (00:45):
SIT's right up there, I think. Look, I talked to
the boys the other day. The World Test Championship is
obviously a huge achievement, but I think we've been coming
to India for sixty nine years now as a nation
and it's the first time we've grabbed a series win
against them, so certainly right up there.

Speaker 4 (01:02):
How are you? How's everyone feeling? How are you feeling?
Is it sunken?

Speaker 3 (01:07):
Yeah? I think it. It was obviously a nice celebration
last night and a very deserved one as well. I
think we've played some really good cricket here against equality
Indian side and to beat them I think in their
own conditions on a turning track was something that is
probably the most satisfying.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Does anything give a signal that a performance like this
is in the wings?

Speaker 4 (01:32):
Did anything feel different than the lead up?

Speaker 3 (01:37):
Not really. I mean we've been to Sri Lanka, which
I think was good beforehand, and whilst we lost to
nil there, we could have easily won the first Test,
and I thought we started to show signs there of
playing I think the style that you need to play
over here, and that's just your ability to play spin
and work out a method to put their spin bowlas

(01:58):
under pressure as well. So whilst we didn't get the
results in Sri Lanka, I thought there was some signs
of I guess promise of what could be over here.
But we've been exception away over here and I guess
the way we've gone about it and just delighted for
the whole team really because I think whilst there's the
odd person that will get the accolades, that it's been

(02:18):
a real I think team performance to get where we are.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
I guess when you say the odd person. Much of
the talk is about Mitchell Santner, who seemed I've seen
an interview or two with him already, who seems a
little bit sort of surprised himself.

Speaker 3 (02:35):
Lucky he bowled exceptionally well, But I mean we talk
about bowling and partnerships as well, and I thought the
other two spinners, age As and Glenn Phillips both bold
very well but perhaps didn't get the rewards, and that's
sometimes how it goes in crickets. So we just we
asked our bowler is here to be as accurate as
they can, be as clinical as they can, and Mitch

(02:56):
was outstanding.

Speaker 4 (02:57):
No doubt about it.

Speaker 3 (02:58):
But I mean the other guys were also very very
good as well.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
Was it how did you did you have a particular
tactic for keeping the pressure at once you sort of
felt that you were getting getting the better of India.
Of course, you never feel that you've won it until
the last ball, but how did you go about sort
of keeping the pressure on them?

Speaker 3 (03:17):
Well, from a batting point of view, we just talked
about making sure we're consistently scoring and trying to make
sure that they don't get to bowl a lot of
balls at one batsman, but also making sure that they
will bowl good balls, they will bowl good spells, and
we still have to trust our defense at certain times
as well, and with the ball as a very simple

(03:39):
plan of just being very very accurate, applying pressure and
then the pitch do the work. It was a very
very difficult wicket. Was sort of looking at it before
the start of the game and thought the game could
be over in less than three days, and it was
in the end. So it just proved that batting was
always going to be difficult and a good first inning

(03:59):
score and I think the one hundred run advantage was
critical in the outcome of the match.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
It's normally a difficult wicket in India and I'm a
bit of a layperson on this front. Forgive me if
I get it wrong, but I've had the sense that
the difficult wickets is kind of a deliberate thing and
they quite kind of like them. They didn't like it,
did they.

Speaker 4 (04:20):
Look.

Speaker 3 (04:21):
I mean, if we played better than them, I think
in this game, and that's just what happens. So you
don't come to India and expect to get wickets that
don't turn. And perhaps the one we played in Bangalore
in the first Test was was probably a little bit
more New Zealand like than even Indian and that was

(04:41):
partly because of the rain and also the hardness of
the wicket, and to get that first win there, I
think just gave the team a lot of confidence and
we took that into Game two and we've been nice
and clear, which has been really encouraging.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
How do you set yourself psychologically for your next challenge?

Speaker 4 (04:57):
General? How much?

Speaker 2 (04:59):
I mean, obviously you take confidence from this going forward,
but where do you where do you place yourself in
your attitude for the next for your next challenge?

Speaker 3 (05:07):
Well, every Test match important to the group, and we
certainly will be going in and trying to win that
Test match as well. So Mumbai can be very different
to the other wickets. So they have red base or
red clay there that tends to dust a lot more
so I would expect it's going to be another wicket
that does turn and favor the spin bowlers.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
Any particular thoughts that you have as a coach when
you see a performance like this, and obviously the raptures
sort of feeling you might feel when you're won, but
what lessons do you take going forward as a coach.

Speaker 3 (05:42):
I mean, you're always trying to learn and get better
and learn about the players and what makes them tick.
And I think one of the things that we always
do that sometimes we can be criticized for is actually
backing the players and making sure that they feel reasonably
secure in their positions as well, and I think that
always gives you the chance of getting the best out
of the players as well. And cricket can be a

(06:06):
brutal sport at times, you get it's easy to go
through the I guess highs and lows of form. But
if we changed all the time, then I think the
thing that would be difficult is every player would be
looking over their shoulder and you wouldn't get the best
results out of them.

Speaker 2 (06:21):
Excellent, Gary, congratulations, it's an amazing result and everyone's fizzing
in New Zealand.

Speaker 4 (06:26):
I hope you get the sense of that over there.

Speaker 3 (06:29):
Yeah, it's fantastic. We really appreciate the support and look,
I'm sure that we'll have a whole lot of black
Caps fans looking forward to the England series that's just
around the corner as well.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
Yeah, great stuff. Hey, I really appreciate appreciate your time
this morning. All the best to you and the team.
Thanks Tom, cheers quite one of the things I was
next to take out of that is. I just enjoyed
when he said, when I talked about the pitch and
all that sort of thing, and he said, look, we
play better than them.

Speaker 4 (06:55):
I thought, nice, refreshing comic.

Speaker 2 (06:57):
Just hear Cotch go, Yeah, we played better than them.

Speaker 4 (06:59):
We won, hooray.

Speaker 2 (07:01):
Because a lot of the time, you know, you get
the sort of this modesty and you never really get
a but I enjoyed that comment from from Gary.

Speaker 1 (07:07):
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